SES Networks and Gilat Telecom connect DRC cities with Satellite Broadband

Details: James Barton; Category: Satellite Networks; 11 September 2017; 4795 views

Gilat Telecom is expanding its satellite capacity with SES Networks to over 3.0Gbps in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The operator has been providing the country’s capital and largest city Kinshasa with expansive internet connectivity services for many years, and has seen high network reliability and resiliency from the SES Networks service. The company has now also launched service over SES’s O3b Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite fleet to a second DRC location, bringing fibre-equivalent internet to customers in Lubumbashi.

Gilat Telecom is based in Israel, and offers satellite and fibre-based connectivity services in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Gilat first deployed SES Networks’ ultra-low latency, high throughput connectivity in 2014, following the launch of the first four satellites in the O3b Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) fleet.

This made it the first firm to use the new connectivity in Africa, and the second worldwide. Since that time, Gilat has seen strong and steady customer growth in DRC as customers have responded to the high-performance internet service and the applications it enables. It has effectively become one of the largest MEO satellite solutions users in the world.

As the need for reliable connectivity has expanded in DRC, SES Networks worked with Gilat to implement a diverse routing solution to further increase network uptime and availability. With this solution, ground terminals were placed in multiple locations throughout the region, and an advanced intelligent routing platform was implemented to enable intelligent switching across multiple satellite links resulting in extremely high link availability.

“For years, improving connectivity has been a high priority for us and we have been incredibly impressed with the speed and quality of our service through SES Networks,” said Dan Zajicek, CEO of Gilat Telecom. “We chose SES Networks’ MEO Satellites because of its unique ability to rival fibre performance, without having to rely on any land-based link from a neighbouring country.”

Carole Kamaitha, Vice President of Africa Sales at SES Networks, said: “Our shared commitment to expanding and improving connectivity has enabled us to break through barriers together, and design creative and unique solutions for DRC. Moving forward, we are eager to work even more with Gilat, leveraging the diverse capabilities of SES Networks for the benefit of customers in Kinshasa, Lubumbashi and across DRC.”